Investing.com - Stock in Japan rose after a surprise move by the central bank to move to negative interest rates with Shanghai also up on hopes for easier policy from the People's Bank of China.
The Nikkei 225 rose 036%. The Shanghai Composite gained 2.00% and the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.20%
The Bank of Japan board Friday voted to introduce a negative interest rate policy in a 5 to 4 vote while keeping its monetary base target at ¥80 trillion annually in an 8 to 1 vote.
The move was aimed at ensuring that consumers move away from a "deflation mindset" and included a statement that lower interest rates on excess reserves would be considered if needed.
The BoJ cited unstable global financial markets and depressed crude oil prices to delay the estimated timing of achieving 2% sustained inflation by six months, the third delay in the past 10 months.
Earlier, in Japan, household spending for December rose 1.0% month-on-month, below the gain of 2.0% seen and fell 4.4% year-on-year, compared to a drop of 2.4% expected. As well, National Core CPI rose 0.1% as expected.
In other month-end figures, the unemployment rate held steady at 3.3% and provisional industrial production for December slumped 1.4%, well below the drop of 0.3% month-on-month expected.
Australia reported private sector credit rose 0.5% in December, missing an expected 0.6% gain. Also in Australia fourth quarter producer prices rose 0.3%, missing a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter rise seen.
U.S. stocks rose broadly on Thursday as crude futures surged to a three-week high and the major indices received a boost from Facebook Inc (O:O:FB) and Under Armour Inc (N:N:UA), after the two companies reported stellar earnings hours earlier.
Shares in Facebook soared more than 15%, one day after the social media giant beat analysts' expectations and eclipsed $1 billion in quarterly revenue. As of December 31, Facebook (O:FB) said it had nearly 1.59 billion monthly active users, including 1.44 billion on its mobile platforms. Facebook also reported that its mobile advertising revenue accounted for 80% of its total ad sales for the quarter, up from 69% during the same quarter a year earlier. Under Armour also posted double-digit earnings and revenue gains for the quarter, as profits for reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry's sneakers drove apparel sales by more than 20%., according to the company. Under Armour shares jumped 15.93 or 23.23% to 84.51.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 124.98 or 0.78% to 16,069.44, while the NASDAQ Composite index added 38.51% to 4,506.68, overcoming a poor session from pharmaceutical stocks. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, rose 10.41 or 0.55% to 1,893.36, as eight of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Energy, Technology and Utilities industries led, each gaining more than 1.5% on the session.